To pre-empt the inevitable comment about headlines that are questions, the answer to this one is an unequivocal ‘kind of’. The pandemic seems to have had a lasting effect on stock market participation among European households, with more European investing in the stock market for the first time.
A series of surveys across 11 EU member states showed that between 2020 and 2024, about 10% of non-investors invested in the stock market for the first time each year. This is quite a change of pace for a continent where stock ownership is famously low. We don’t have the same investment culture as investors in the US or even the UK.
I have mentioned in this note on the investment performance of Germans that this reluctance to take investment risks contributes to poor wealth accumulation. The result is, for example, that despite having higher savings rates than other nations, Germans don’t necessarily have a larger retirement nest egg at old age.
The study by researchers from Italy shows that by November 2024, more than 50% of German households were investing in stocks or stock funds, up from about 40% in the middle of 2020. Across the Eurozone, participation rates rose from about 30% to 40% in the same period.
Stock market participation rates in the EU
Source: Christelis et al. (2026)
While many investors came to the stock market during the pandemic, they also left the stock market again once the pandemic ended. The percentage of investors leaving the stock markets is about 20% of the existing investor base, with spikes in the last winter of the pandemic and the onset of the inflation spike in 2022. But while many investors left the stock market after the pandemic ended, many stayed around, as the rising participation rates into 2024 show.
Share of stock market investors exiting the market
Source: Christelis et al. (2026)
PS: The study also gives some insights into crypto ownership in the EU. And the two figures below show that there still is no crypto boom in Europe. A constant share of about 10% of EU households invest in cryptocurrencies, with many joining during the pandemic, but new joiners slipping away once the pandemic ended.
Household participation in crypto assets
Source: Christelis et al. (2026)
